Amer­i­cans would pay price of sus­tain­abil­ity

AMER­I­CANS would be will­ing to pay more for their seafood if it is cer­ti­fied as sus­tain­ably and re­spon­si­bly sourced, says a con­sumer sur­vey by Cargill Aqua Nu­tri­tion.

The com­pany, which pro­duces feed for salmon, tilapia and shrimp in at least 18 coun­tries, says it is ded­i­cated to tai­lor­ing feed so­lu­tions to cus­tomers’ needs.

The sur­vey of more than 1,000 Amer­i­cans found that 72 per cent said they be­lieved seafood was im­por­tant to their health and nu­tri­tion.

Eighty-eight per cent of those same con­sumers were will­ing to pay more for seafood that is cer­ti­fied as sus­tain­ably and re­spon­si­bly sourced.

This es­pe­cially ap­pealed to the younger gen­er­a­tion, with 93 per cent of mil­len­ni­als agree­ing they were will­ing to pay more.

Ei­nar Wathne, pres­i­dent of Cargill Aqua Nu­tri­tion, said: ‘We are com­mit­ted to de­liv­er­ing healthy seafood for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions, and we know we must do this in a way that is re­spon­si­ble and meets con­sumer pref­er­ences.’

Re­sults from the sur­vey were re­leased at the Aqua­cul­ture Roundtable Series in Bali last month, where Wathne was a key­note speaker.

The sur­vey also found that out of five seafood options given, 47 per cent of Amer­i­cans pre­fer shrimp.

Eighty-four per cent of Amer­i­cans trust that their seafood is sourced in a safe and re­spon­si­ble way and 70 per cent say where and how their seafood is sourced im­pacts their pur­chase de­ci­sion.

Cargill’s an­i­mal nu­tri­tion busi­ness has more than 20,000 em­ploy­ees at more than 275 fa­cil­i­ties in 40 coun­tries, which to­gether pro­duced 1.74 mil­lion tonnes of aquafeed in 2016.